


Purely Aesthetically (Of Course)

by merthurlin



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Light Dom/sub, Other, echo figures out grand is a bottom sub approximately 0.00001 minutes after they meet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-10 06:58:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13497058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merthurlin/pseuds/merthurlin
Summary: Echo's new apartment would be perfect - if not for their extremely annoying neighbor.





	Purely Aesthetically (Of Course)

Echo _knew_ they got a good deal on their new place. It was pretty big for a one bedroom apartment, with a fully-furnished kitchen and an actual real bathtub in the bathroom. Echo didn’t think they have ever even seen an actual bathtub, much less own one. The place was in a good part of town, not too close to the town center as to be noisy but not too far as to be inconvenient to go shopping or whatever, and the bus station wasn’t too far away from the apartment either. It wasn’t very aesthetically pleasing, sure, but Echo didn’t care much about those sorts of things anyway, and for $500 a month they could do a lot worse. Even Even approved of it, and Even had a surprisingly picky taste about things (Of course, Even also immediately volunteered to plant a small herb garden in the windowsill. Echo didn’t really mind – caring for something other than themself might be nice, actually.)

The only problem with their new place was this. One. Neighbor.

Echo had their fair share of bad neighbors (and worse, bad roommates), but this one fucking guy. This one _fucking_ guy. Echo didn’t even know their name since it wasn’t listed anywhere, but they knew his music taste intimately, and it fucking sucked. Weird experimental shit being blasted off at loud volume, the weirdest mixture of classical and techno sounds making them have a constant migraine.

That wasn’t even the worst part. It was the other sounds – constant grinding, sawing, sometimes _sewing_. It sounded like a construction zone right next door, and Echo was sick of it. They worked a full-time job, and the last thing they wanted to come home to is this constant cacophony.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Echo muttered to themself when, after five minutes of blessed, _blessed_ quiet, the noise started again – was that a torchblower?

Striding outside their apartment, Echo could barely contain their rage, ringing their neighbor’s doorbell.

When that didn’t help, they just started slamming their fist on the door in an approximation of knocking. Before Echo could contemplate the wisdom in kicking the door in, the noise stopped. A few seconds passed before the door swung open, revealing to Echo their neighbor for the first time, and fuck, he was _hot_.

High cheekbones framed with disheveled hair. The faintest hint of a five-o’clock shadow. Tall, taller than Echo, certainly (although Even would joke and say that doesn’t say much), but gangly, lacking any visible muscles whatsoever. The ugliest clothes Echo has ever seen in their life, but he was making it work, somehow.

And a disinterested, slightly haughty look on his face, complete with a raised eyebrow and a drawled: “Yes?”

Right, yelling. Echo was good at yelling.

“You are aware that there are other people in this building, right?” Echo asked testily, crossing their arms.

The guy’s eyebrow inched even higher. “I assume you are one of the ‘other people in this building?'”

“Echo Reverie, apartment 114,” they introduced themself, not even bothering to extend an arm for a handshake.

“Pleasure to meet you, Reverie, but I really must return to my work.” The door started to close and on instinct Echo’s hand flew out to grab it, holding it open.

“That’s the apartment right next to you, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“I am aware, yes.” The guy huffed, clearly not pleased about Echo’s forwardness. Well, tough shit.

“Are you also aware of the sheer amount of noise you are making? I can handle the awful music, but what are you doing, building a fucking giant robot?”

“My music is _not_ awful,” the guy said, affronted. “I will have you know it is one of the best expressions of the duality between old and new, the interconnectedness of time. It challenges our linear view of history, allowing for a post-structuralist argument in the musical tone to emerge-“

Echo cut him off. “So, you _are_ building a giant robot then?”

The guy just blinked at them, nonplussed. “A – A giant robot?”

Echo rolled their eyes. “Listen, I don’t really care what you are making, just keep it down, alright? Some of us don’t actually enjoy feeling like they are living in an active warzone.” With that, Echo withdrew their arm, allowing the door to shut close. They made it back to their apartment, already anticipating the peace and quiet.

The guy might be pretty, but he was also the exact type of pretty Echo hated: too pretty for his own good, for Echo’s good, for the universe’s good. Pretty but dumb and self-centered was a terrible combination.

Unfortunately, the sawing started back again after less than ten minutes.

“Motherfu-!” Echo started to curse, before throwing a guilty look at their new herb garden. Even always got on their case for cursing next to the “babies”, and Echo could swear their friend had the uncanny ability to know exactly when and how much Echo cursed on their own free time.

This time, Echo started with the violent knocking, forgoing the bell entirely. When the guy – and Echo still didn’t know his name, which might make it difficult to curse him out – opened the door, they wasted no time.

“Do you want to get punched?” They demanded.

“Not particularly, no,” he didn’t even have the grace to look sheepish.

“Which part of ‘keep it quiet’ did you not understand?”

He _did_ had the gall to raise his eyebrow again, the asshole. “The part where my work cannot be contained to the lower decibel range,” he stopped for a second, before admitting: “Also I have a deadline coming up.”

“What are you, some kind of an artist?”

“To call one a mere ‘artist’ is so reductive,” at Echo’s stormy look he rapidly continued, “But yes I suppose I am.”

Echo lost some of their aggressive stature. “Listen, I can sympathize, but don’t you have some kind of studio space to work at? You know, somewhere without neighbors.”

At that, the guy’s expression turned slightly pained. “Of course, but things have been kind of… complicated, lately.” Suddenly, his gaze turned scrutinizing, appraising Echo, who felt distinctly uncomfortable at the close attention. They crossed their arms defensively. “What?”

“You seem quite physically capable.”

“Are you coming on to me?” Echo asked, somewhat amused, still uncomfortable.

He flushed, which made him even more attractive, damn him. “No! It’s just – are you free for hire?”

Now Echo was getting _very_ uncomfortable. “What the hell are you going on about?”

He sighed. “Would you like to come in so that we could discuss this?”

“Discuss _what_? I don’t even know your name!”

The man blinked in surprise, as if he somehow didn’t realize how fucking rude he was being. “Oh, I apologize – I am Grand Magnificent, a pleasure.”

Now it was Echo that was staring nonplussed. “Ex- Excuse me?”

“What?”

“That’s your name?”

“Yes?”

“Are you a stage magician?”

“No!”

Clearly something was very off about this guy. Echo was suddenly wary about going into his apartment, because who knows what they will find there. Dissected body parts? Weird animals? Maybe an actual robot – none of those seemed _too_ farfetched at the moment. But this – Grand Magnificent, and fuck did Echo feel dumb calling him that even in their head, was right: Echo was _very_ physically capable, thank you very much. And honestly, at this point they were getting pretty curious, and, well.

They followed their neighbor into his apartment.

It was… well, it sure was _something_ . Messy, but not in a slobby sort of way. It looked as if everything was exactly where it was supposed to be, just not where you’d expect it to be. Clothes organized neatly on top of the kitchen table, books shelved in the kitchen, utensils lying on bookshelves. And in the middle of it all, a glass monstrosity, towering above everything else in the room. Echo could tell you that it was a sculpture, but they had no idea of _what_ – the thing had more angles than should have been physically possible.

Grand Magnificent looked closely at their expression, and, clearly misinterpreting it, said smugly, “Good, huh?”

“It’s… big,” Echo settled on saying, keeping their more unflattering opinions to themself.

Grand nodded, either not understanding or not caring for Echo’s hesitance, “Yes, it’s a reflection – huh, get it, reflection? – of the sheer size of the human self.”

Echo nodded slowly, forcing themself to look away from the sculpture and back at Grand (not that _that_ was much of a hardship). “Right. So. What was that about you wanting to pay money for my body?” Okay, Echo could admit, they have deliberately said that to get Grand flushed again.

“That’s not – I really wish you wouldn’t phrase it like that,” he actually pouted, which was both infuriating to see on a grown man, and also kind of cute. Echo really wished their body wasn’t wired to find this man hot.

“Like I said,” he continued, “I have a slight… problem with my studio. For the last couple of weeks I have been harassed by this group of thugs, and honestly, it has been terribly inconvenient to my work.” As if it was more troubling that it was inconvenient for his work than for his life, honestly, _this fucking guy_.

Echo tensed, “Wait, why are they harassing you?”

Grand sighed. “A misunderstanding, really. I have a contract with this man who works at the government. I’m not quite sure what he does, actually, but he serves as my patron, of sorts, which means he gets a first look at all of my creations. He somehow got hold of one of my failed drafts – a dreadful thing, for reasons beyond my control, of course – and has arrived at the completely wrong conclusion that I’m working for one of his political rivals. Preposterous, of course, politics completely lack any aesthetic value, but he is being very persistent.”

Hot damn, but Echo knew this guy was trouble even before they met him, and they sure loved getting validated. “Are you telling me your sugar daddy is sending thugs after you?”

Grand looked at them in shock, completely scandalized. “He most certainly is _not_ my sugar daddy!”

Echo shrugged, “Just joking. So, what? You saw your built neighbor, and decided ‘I’ll annoy them to death until they agree to go beat up a few people for me?'”

Grand gave them an appreciative look. “Well, you are very well built… Aesthetically, of course!” he quickly added, fumbling. “Besides, I haven’t even seen you before today, I certainly wasn’t orchestrating such a complex plot. It all just seemed to fall into place.”

Echo raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”

“ _Yet_ , yes. Would you?”

The “Absolutely not” was standing at the tip of their tongue, but Echo paused for a second. Had they actually seen Grand getting harassed, they would have interfered right away, wouldn’t they? Even called it their “savior complex," but Echo just didn’t like seeing people get hurt, and they had the power to stop it when it did happen. Grand was annoying, but he didn’t seem like a bad person, and a breach of contract hardly seemed like a good reason to send people after him. Or, at least, people who weren’t _lawyers_.

But Grand _was_ pretty annoying, so Echo better make him work for it. “What would I get out of it?”

Grand seemed to consider the question seriously. “Hey, is that beat up motorcycle in the complex’ driveway yours?”

Echo bristled. That beat up motorcycle was their pride and joy, one of the first things they bought for themself once they made enough money to be able to buy things that weren’t rent or food. It wasn’t the prettiest, or even the safest, vehicle around, but it was theirs, and that meant more. “Yeah, what of it?”

Grand shrugged. “Well, I _am_ an award-winning vehicle designer. I could fix it right up, probably even upgrade it to something that isn’t a complete eyesore.”

Echo snorted. “You're an award-winning vehicle designer? What is this then?” and they waved at the glass monstrosity in the middle of the room.

“Being a visionary doesn’t exactly pay the bills, you know,” he said, pulling up a tablet from who knows where and giving it to Echo, “Had to get a second job. Here, look.”

Echo whistled softly. Open on the screen was Grand’s portfolio, and damn, the guy could designs some good looking cars. They were sleek, but not hideously so – sharp corners with smooth edges, color combinations that shouldn’t work but somehow did. Kind of like Grand’s whole look: conflicting ideas and concepts in one pretty appealing package.

Handing the tablet back to Grand, Echo grudgingly admitted: “Those are pretty good.”

Grand smiled, and Echo despised the fact that it made him look even hotter, damn him. “Thank you. So, a deal?”

Echo got to kick the shit out of some assholes, and they got an upgraded motorcycle out of this? “Yeah, alright.”

\---

Grand’s studio was in the richer part of town, which seemed to corroborate his story about being supposedly award worthy. It was in a tall building, clearly filled of mostly creative studios and office space, surrounded by other identical buildings, surrounded by yet more identical buildings. Grand insisted this whole space had a “unique exploratory vibe,” but Echo couldn’t see it.

  
Grand had prattled on and on about this area during their ride here – a ride they took using public transportation, despite Echo’s suggestion they take their motorcycle. He had adamantly refused to ride it before he got the chance to “transform it into a real masterpiece,” and Echo could either deck him or keep quiet, and since they have already agreed to help him, they just suggested public transportation instead. Honestly they expected Grand to turn his nose up at that, but surprisingly, he agreed without objections. When asked, he started talking all about “seeing the world from the most basic perspective,” at which point Echo completely tuned him out.

Of course, all of this happened after Echo spent about ten minutes trying to convince their idiotic neighbor to let them handle it on their own. Grand hardly looked like he could help, and Echo tried to _very kindly_ explain that having him there could be more of a hindrance than an assistance. As part of his argument Grand has taken out a knife he kept somewhere on his person (Echo really didn’t want to know where) proudly explaining he has bought it when he moved into the city “to blend in with the aesthetic more, you know.”

Echo had no choice but to show him their sword, hoping seeing an actual real sword would freak Grand out (it certainly had Even, before), but instead it just made him even more excited, insisting seeing them wield their sword would give him a unique inside look into the nature of humanity.

  
Echo stopped themself from making the obvious joke, but only just barely.

  
But they were here, now, and Grand immediately led them to the reception area.

  
“Ah, Mr. Magnificent!” the secretary greeted them, grinning, “Haven’t seen you in a hot minute.”

  
“Magnificent isn’t a surname – Never mind,” Grand sighed, clearly used to it, “Is there any one in my studio right now?”

  
“Yes, yes, your guests? The Duke?” The man seemed amused by the whole situation, “They've been there for a few hours now.”

  
“Great,” Grand muttered, scowling, “They better not have messed up my system. I have everything organized according to a very specific -”

  
Echo rolled their eyes, and grabbing Grand’s arm, dragged him towards the elevators. “Come on, let’s not give them more time to mess up your precious system.”

  
Grand’s studio was, of course, on the top floor.

  
“Did this government guy pay for this place?” Echo asked, impressed despite themself.  
Grand nodded, “Well, I put down the deposit, but yes, he does pay for it. Honestly, I didn’t even want this much space, I would much rather work in a cramped environment – better for my process, you see – but he insisted, and well, it seemed rude to object.”

  
“You know, this whole deal seems like it was sketchy right from the beginning,” Echo said. “Why did you go for it? You don’t seem to be doing badly in the vehicle business.”

  
“It seemed so romantic, right? To have a patron, like all the great classical thinkers and creators,” Grand shrugged, the top of his ears turning red. “Gig – that’s my friend, he is pretty good with the internet – did a quick background check on him, and everything showed up fine. Honestly this is the first time anything like that happened.”

  
Echo rolled their eyes. “Right, and look how that turned out.”

  
Before Grand could reply, the elevator doors opened, revealing a large open area. Apparently, when Grand said his studio was on the top floor, he had neglected to mention his studio was the top floor. With a quick glance Echo could see similar versions of the sculpture Grand had in his apartment, as well as various other creations, some even larger than that particular monstrosity.

  
They couldn’t see too many details, however, since the floor wasn’t empty. There were four people spread around the place, one of them sitting right in front of the elevator, on a couch he has clearly dragged from another corner of the room.

  
“Ah, Mr. Magnificent! How lovely to see you again, we have been waiting.”

  
Echo ignored Grand’s muttered “Again, not a last name” and said, “Did you drag that couch here specifically to make a dramatic introduction?”

  
The man’s smile turned strained. “You’ve brought a friend, I see. How rude of you not to introduce us, Mr. Magnificent.”

  
“That’s not – “ Echo interjected before Grand could finish his objection, “Coming after people with a gang for a breach of contract seems like a bit of an overreaction, doesn’t it?”

  
“Nothing has broken the terms of our deal, this is outrageous,” Grand agreed, crossing his arms.

  
“I’m not a lawyer, I’m an enforcer,” the man shrugged, leaning back.

  
“Yeah, he should have sent a lawyer,” Grand groused, “Do you know a lawyer?”

 

The man’s smile completely vanished. “Listen, Magnificent, this is going to go either of two ways. Either you come with me, or we beat up both you and your friend and then you come with me. Your choice.”

  
“I propose option three,” Echo said, drawing their sword, at which point all hell broke loose.

  
The first person came at them from the right, swinging nothing but his fists at them. Echo, still in the process of drawing their sword, slammed their elbow in his face, stunning him and causing him to back away. Without losing their stride, Echo charged at the woman coming from their left, sword already drawn. They weren’t aiming for lethal, or course – the sword was blunt-edged rather than sharp, and they were careful to stay away from the more vulnerable spots. Still, as they swirled around her, evading her punch, and slammed the back of their sword to the small of her back she crumpled, groaning in pain.

  
That left two more. The second woman, after seeing what happened to her two companions, did not charge them recklessly. Unlike the other two, she held a knife, and was slowly circling them, trying to find an opening. Echo tracked her movement carefully – she looked like she knew what she was doing, and that might prove a bit more troublesome.

  
“You have some good reflexes,” she called out.

  
Echo knew better than to be drawn into a witty banter. When she saw they weren’t biting, simply looking at her, she huffed, and charged at them. They were right – she was better than the other two, clearly somewhat trained. Using her knife she could get in much closer than they could with their sword, and she took advantage of it constantly, twisting around him to get into and out of range. It was annoying, but still pretty exhilarating – Echo liked a good fight.

 

“Ah, shit,” was muttered behind him, rather matter of fact. When they spun around to chase their opponent, they saw Grand, his hand twisted behind his back by the man who was talking earlier, his useless knife now being even more useless on the ground.

  
“Now, now,” the man called out, “Let’s not be hasty.”

  
“That’s why I told you to stay at your place, moron,” Echo growled, still holding to their sword but taking a defensive stance, rather than aggressive. The woman, seeing her boss now had control over the room, stopped advancing on them.

  
“You know,” the man sighed, feigning remorse, “This nasty business wouldn’t have had to happen if you had just come with me quietly, Mr. Magnificent.”

  
Echo looked expectantly at Grand, already anticipating his repeated objection to the honorific, but Grand was mysteriously silent, just staring at them with a piercing look. When he saw Echo was looking at him, he raised his eyebrow and nodded a bit, expecting Echo to understand.

Echo had no idea what he wanted from them.

“Really, Mr. Magnificent,” the man continued, oblivious to the silent exchange happening in the room, “Like you said, I’m sure this is all a big misunderstanding. Our employer would simply like to exchange a couple of words with you.”

  
“About what?” Grand asked, still looking at Echo. While they had no idea what Grand was planning (and shit, they sure hoped they weren’t about to get stabbed), they tensed slightly in preparation.

  
“About your creation, I suppose,” he shrugged, “Whatever it is.”

  
“Oh, my giant robot?”

  
Several things happened in quick succession. First, Grand leaned forward, kneeing his captive in the groin, effectively freeing himself from his hold. Echo, who was looking for an opening, dived forward past Grand, driving the man onto his knees with their sword at his throat. Then, the most surprising – Grand who quickly picked up his now less-useless knife, charged the woman at Echo’s back, somehow stumbling into her, the two of them falling to the ground with Grand effectively pinning her at knife point.

All of that took less than ten seconds.

Echo raised an eyebrow at the Duke, “Well, I’m sure we can strike a deal. The thing is, I’m much less generous – and I’m only going to give you the one choice.”

  
\---

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” said Grand again, for what felt like the hundredth time, as the two of them finally made it into his apartment. He has been saying variations of this statement since they have left the studio, and honestly, Echo was starting to feel pretty insulted.

  
“If you didn’t think it was going to work why did you suggest it in the first place?” they finally snapped, throwing themself down at Grand’s couch, cursing when something sharp jabbed at their back. They pulled it – some kind of a tool, who even knows – out, discarding it on the floor.  
Grand made a low noise of protest, but wisely did not comment further on the disruption of his special organizational system. Echo already helped him make sure the studio was in satisfactory condition, and Grand’s “satisfactory” was very different to Echo’s.

  
“Obviously I thought _something_ would happen, but I didn’t think it would all get solved just like that. Do you really have a lawyer friend?”

  
“Eh,” Echo shrugged. “Signet is more of a priest than a lawyer, but I swear, that woman can move mountains with her mind. She would have figured something out.”

  
“You have some weird friends,” Grand muttered, sitting down next to them.

  
“And you have some skills you haven’t mentioned. What was that, back there?” Echo wouldn’t lie to themself – seeing Grand kick that guy’s balls was oddly hot, and even though he more or less fumbled his way into taking that woman down, it only made him more endearing. Not as useless as Echo first thought, it seemed like.

  
“A few months ago Gig convinced me to come with him to some self-defense lessons,” Grand snorted. “It was for some video for his stupid vlog, but I thought it would benefit me to understand the human body and its form even further.”

“A stupid vlog – Wait,” Echo startled. “Your friend is Gig _Kep-Hart_?”

“You know him?”

Echo stared at Grand for a second, incredulous. “He has like a few million subscribers. I don’t even _use_ the internet but I’ve heard of him.”

  
Now Grand stared back. “Wait, you mean – he wasn’t lying about that?”

  
Echo just started laughing, a bit hysterically. This whole day has been completely bizarre, from start to finish, and it wasn’t even really _finished_ yet.

“You have a nice laugh,” Grand remarked, before flushing. “From a purely aesthetic viewpoint, of course.”

  
Echo leaned back a bit, still laughing but quieter, considering. They had seen the signs, alright – Grand was as obvious in his mannerism as he was in his art, subtlety giving way to pure, blunt force. They have seen the looks, the flushes, the way he was just a little bit less _effusive_ immediately after the fight, his gaze lingering on Echo’s sword, on their arms. Grand was interested, was more than interested, and, well. It wasn’t like Grand himself was hard on the eyes. Echo themself has been distracted by his pretty boy looks more than once during this whole adventure, and it wouldn’t exactly be a hardship to… indulge. Grand was their neighbor, which might make some things awkward down the line, but Echo has never been much of a forward thinker.

  
They now leaned closer to Grand, one hand landing on his shoulder, the other on his knee. “Is _this_ ‘aesthetically pleasing’ for you?” The mocking tone in their voice didn’t seem to throw Grand off – who, instead of backing off, surged down to kiss Echo.

  
It wasn’t a perfect kiss – the angle was all wrong, them sitting next to each other, Echo quite a bit shorter than Grand. But it was hot, and messy, Echo’s hand rising from Grand’s shoulder to fist at his hair, directing him right where they wanted him. Grand let out a quiet sigh, letting himself get manhandled a bit, and yeah, Echo could definitely work with that.

  
Using their hand in Grand’s hair, Echo tugged Grand away from the kiss, looking at him. His cheeks were flushed, and there was something heady in his eyes, which were trained on Echo’s face. “Is this okay?”

  
Grand kept quiet and just nodded as much as Echo’s hold would let him, already slightly leaning forward again for another kiss. Echo smirked and obliged him, tugging him closer, but only for a fleeting moment, before they leaned back again. “Bedroom?”

Grand swallowed audibly and nodded again, “Y-Yeah, come on.” He tried to rise up but Echo’s hand in his hair still held him in place, forcing him to bend unnaturaly over the sofa. Echo appreciated the strong lines his body created, the way his breath started to sharpen a bit under the strain. After a moment, they released him. “After you.”

Grand’s bedroom was much the same as his living room – not that Echo could take in much of it, as Grand was immediately on them as soon as they entered the room. Echo smirked into the kiss, spinning them around to slam Grand against the bedroom wall, causing him to gasp and break the kiss.

  
Echo tsked, the same hand from before finding its place in Grand’s hair again, the other grabbing both of Grand’s wrists and pinning them to the wall. “I don’t really think that’s how you want this to go, Grand.”

  
Grand’s eyes widened, but then he relaxed, body giving into Echo’s hold. “Yeah, alright.”

Echo nodded, smiling now instead of smirking. They tapped Grand’s wrists. “Keep those up here.”

Stepping back, they appraised Grand. He sure made a pretty picture, leaning against the bedroom’s wall, his wrists held up by nothing but his own willingness to follow Echo’s instructions. “You make quite a pretty picture, Grand.”

Grand actually _moaned_ at that, a full-body shiver, and Echo’s eyebrow rose a bit. Huh. Interesting.

Casting their eyes around the room, they spied a small armchair at the corner. Making their way over there, they sat down, making themself comfortable. From here they had perfect vantage point over Grand, which they planned to take full advantage of.

“Strip.”

Grand flushed, “Wha-“

“Did I say you could talk? Strip,” Echo didn’t know exactly how far they could take this whole thing (and it was probably something they should have talked about with Grand beforehand), but they thought they have Grand pretty figured out, and they weren’t planning much more than those casual power dynamics. They looked at Grand closely, trying to figure out if he was objecting in anyway, but Grand simply swallowed and, taking his hands down, started to unbutton that godawful flannel shirt he wore.

It wasn’t a sexy striptease – for one, Echo hardly thought there was way to take off socks in a sexy way, and Grand might be graceful but the added edge of arousal seemed to take away some of his arrogance – but it was certainly alluring, and Echo allowed themself to unbutton their jeans, alleviating some of the growing discomfort there.

Grand hesitated when he got to his boxers (another awful shade of neon, of course), but as Echo nodded at him encouragingly, he slowly took those off as well, ending completely naked in front of Echo.

“Good,” Echo praised, not missing Grand’s small shiver at their words. “Come here.”

Grand shuffled over to them, a bit awkwardly, kneeling in front of them when gestured to do so.

“Well?” Echo raised their eyebrow at him, “You seemed to be oh so talented with your mouth when speaking, let’s see what else you can do with it.”

Grand glared at them a bit for that, obviously catching the intended insult, but he nonetheless leaned forward, using his hands to take Echo’s arousal out of their pants and taking it into his mouth. It was clearly not his first time doing this, and he quickly employed every tool in his arsenal to bring Echo as close to the brink as he could. Echo had to once again clutch at his hair to control his pace, unwilling to give up any control.

“Shit, you’re good at that,” the praise was rewarded with a bit of a swirl around the head, and Echo groaned, using their hold on Grand to pull him off. “Alright, bed.”

With a bit of maneuvering they ended up on the bed, Echo on top of Grand. With Grand spread naked beneath them they were spoiled for choice, but then Grand stretched his neck out, asking without using words.

Echo snorted. “Spoiled,” they scolded, but obliged, leaning down and gently biting into his neck, a mark that would be visible if Grand continued to wear his ridiculous flannel shirt. They slowly made their way down, paying close attention to Grand’s nipples, nipping and biting until they were both slightly swollen, and Grand’s moans turned into whines, oversensitive.

At his naval they made the brilliant discovery that Grand was ticklish, squirming and huffing around as Echo exploited that mercilessly, only stopping once Grand started to kick at them. Laughing silently they continued further down, finally arriving at Grand’s cock. It wasn’t too long but it was thick, and Echo could already feel it on their tongue, but not yet. Grand hasn’t suffered nearly enough, after all.

Grand’s moan and groans as Echo lightly teased his cock with fleeting touches and quick sweeps of their tongue were much preferable to his inane prattling from before. Glancing up, Echo could see his eyes squeezed shut, his fingers clenched in the bed covers. He was still so very beautiful, and Echo wanted to _ruin_ him.

Without warning they took him into their mouth, nearly gagging on him. The effect was immediate – Grand moaned loudly, almost a shout, his eyes snapping open to look down at Echo, who was already looking at him. The two held the eye-contact for a moment before Echo _sucked_ , and Grand collapsed back unto the bed, his eyes closed again, his head averted to be buried in the covers. Grand was good at this, but Echo wasn’t too shabby either, and they soon reduced Grand to a moaning, twisting wreck.

“I’m gonna – Gonna – “ Grand babbled, and Echo pulled off, not particularly wanting to swallow but also just really wanting to see Grand completely gone, covered in his own orgasm. They kept one hand on Grand’s cock and the other trailed below, not breaching but just circling his hole. With a shout, Grand came, his come splattering all over his lower abdomen and Echo’s hand.

Echo rose up on their knees, their now come-covered hand finding their own arousal and working it, their gaze not leaving Grand’s form. Grand, now semi-coherent and aware of Echo’s attention, let out another groan, clearly aroused by the thought of being watched but too spent to actually do anything about it. Instead, he rose up on his elbows and brought one hand to join Echo’s, adding his own teasing pace to the mix.

Echo, still overworked from Grand’s ministrations earlier, groaned and came, their release adding to the mess already on Grand’s body. With a sigh they collapsed next to Grand, wiping their hand on the pillow before throwing it off the bed. Grand made a tired noise of protest but didn’t otherwise object, still coming down from the high.

“I can’t believe you are still dressed,” he whined after a few minutes of silence, before looking down at his own body, “Oh, this is actually – not bad.”

Echo snorted. “Thanks for the rousing endorsement.”

Grand smacked them in the side. “Not you, Echo, the pattern we made. Very aesthetically pleasing.”

Despite themself, Echo laughed, rolling over to lie on their side to face Grand, who was examining his own torso quite thoroughly. “Maybe you should look into using semen in your next sculpture.”

For a second Grand seemed to consider this, before realizing Echo was laughing at him. “Oh, shut up.”

Echo shook their head. They couldn’t believe how quickly they grew fond of this ridiculous man, damn him. With a sigh they stood up from the bed.

“You’re leaving already?” Grand asked, seemingly going for nonchalant but ending somewhere between dismayed and clingy.

Echo smirked at him. “Why, do you have any other sugar daddies after you that you want me to deal with?”

“I told you, he wasn’t –“ Grand cut himself off. “Thought you might want to shower, actually.”

“My apartment is right next door, you know.”

“Yes,” Grand leaned back on his elbow, and he must have known what a picture he made, covered in their combined released, still a bit flushed. “But if you are really good, I might show you my giant robot.”

Echo narrowed their eyes at him. “Is this a euphemism for a dildo or – “

With a wink, Grand sprung up from the bed and was out through another door, probably on his way to the bathroom. “You would just have to find out, I guess.”

And. Well. Echo was never good at backing down from a dare.

**Author's Note:**

> this is all nico's fault and also my burning love of echo/grand. i've listened to mr. magnificent & elegy approximately 10,000 times while writing this.
> 
> come find me @merthurlin on twitter

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Three's Company](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14189532) by [DragonEyez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonEyez/pseuds/DragonEyez)




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